4-23-16 Hodgepodge

Will Makes Case for "Voterless" Primaries

Along the lines of some other commentary I recently noted, George Will recommends the GOP reconsider how it nominates presidential candidates next time:

Trump's campaign to discredit the GOP would benefit from any attempts, whatever their motivations or consequences, to rewrite convention rules now, in the middle of a process that all participants began on the assumption that this year's rules were settled. Next year, however, when this year's competition is, like Trump, just a fragrant memory, state parties that have open primaries should rethink this practice. It makes parties susceptible to free-floating voters and freebooting candidates who are, like Trump, lightly -- if at all -- invested in the party's historic mission and its future. Open primaries are not unconstitutional but they are discordant with a First Amendment value -- the freedom of the individual to associate with like-minded persons in political parties to advance a particular political doctrine. [bold added]

I agree. Will also argues that Donald Trump's complaints about the "rigged" primaries he has lost are unfounded and that he is, instead, "having the novel experience of competing in systems that are not rigged."

Weekend Reading

"The people running [the GOP], including those in elected office, no longer bother to even pretend to do what the voters put them into office to do: cut government, cut taxes, cut spending and strengthen the military." -- Michael Hurd, in "Personal Attacks by Cruz, Trump Handing Victory to Hillary" at Newsmax

"Once you realize that you are, in fact, capable of managing your feelings, you can then refer to another list which I fondly call: 'Three Things to NOT Say to Yourself, Lest You Fall into "Victim-Think."'" -- Michael Hurd, in "Alternatives to Victim-Think" at The Delaware Wave

"Without bad moods, we might not know that something is starting to go wrong." -- Michael Hurd, in "Bad Moods Are Not the End of the World" at The Delaware Coast Press

"We need to grasp that while Islamic totalitarianism is a multiform movement, it is fundamentally united by its religious doctrine and vicious goal." -- Elan Journo, in "We Can't Beat Jihadists Unless We're Real About Their Motivations" at The Federalist

"A common myth is that you cannot be a victim of injustice unless you are powerless or disadvantaged, or that an injustice is okay if it's aimed at someone who isn't powerless or disadvantaged." -- Don Watkins, in "Economic Inequality Complaints Are Just a Cover for Anti-Rich Prejudice" at The Federalist

On the Length of Atlas Shrugged...

A common leftist jab at Ayn Rand/attempt to prevent even a moment's consideration of her ideas is to whine about the length of her best-known work, Atlas Shrugged. The following (via Randex) should put that complaint into perspective:

The number of words in Atlas Shrugged is 645,000. The Bible has around 700,000 words. The number of words in the Federal Tax Code: 3,700,000! [format edits]

But guess which one can land you in jail if you don't follow it to the letter.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Added Elan Journo and Don Watkins pieces to Weekend Reading.